Off the beat: Oct. 13, 2007

Another Red Sox fan sounds off

You never know whom you’re going to hear from when you’re bashing Boston.

The Cleveland vs. Boston rhetoric being dispensed by me and Boston native Michael Baker (he’s still a nice guy) in the pages of The Chronicle-Telegram for the American League Championship Series drew the attention of no less than Larry Tamblyn, a member of the ’60s group The Standells.

I mentioned the band in my column Friday for their first hit single “Dirty Water,” which has become an anthem of sorts for the Red Sox at Fenway. The group’s original organist, Tamblyn thanked me in his e-mail for mentioning the band, whose members are all avid Sox fans despite being from Los Angeles.

Since performing at Game 2 of the 2004 World Series, The Standells have made annual appearances at Fenway, including singing the national anthem before Game One of the Red Sox-Angels series last week.

“Our post-season record with the Sox is 2-0,” Tamblyn wrote. “Rest assured, we have sent out our mojo for the upcoming series with Cleveland.”

And that’s not all, Tamblyn is the younger brother of actor Russ Tamblyn, who starred as “The Kid from Cleveland,” a 1949 baseball movie I mentioned in the same column.

Thanks, Larry. It was nice hearing from you … but I still hope the Sox go down.

No offense intended.

— Steve Fogarty

Even vicious dogs go to heaven

SHAWN FOUCHER / CHRONICLE

The memorials on Garvin Avenue.

Residents on Elyria’s Garvin Avenue say they’ve been terrorized all summer long by a pit bull owned by Dawn Trozzo, who also lives on the street.

Trozzo’s dog was killed last week by three shotgun blasts from an Elyria police officer, delivered after the dog bit a county dog warden. It was the second attack by the dog in less than a month — the creature had already attacked a Garvin Avenue man, biting him in the wrist and leg and causing him to undergo a series of painful rabies shots.

Elyria police cited Trozzo for having dogs at large, and Garvin Avenue residents thought it was all over after the dog died.

But they found differently Monday, when a sign and balloons were posted at the corner of Garvin Avenue and Gateway Boulevard. The sign said: “Home Going for Spanky” and “Spanky RIP.”

Neighbors said Spanky was the name of the dead pit bull, and it appeared there was a farewell party for the creature sometime that weekend.

Even bad dogs need love.

— Shawn Foucher

That’s one pricey pie

Just how much was that pizza?

Elyria Hardware employee Dean Weaver isn’t one to let a friend go hungry, especially a friend who loses $700 while trying to buy a pizza for his family.

Weaver said his friend Howard, who works at a pool and deck store, went to buy a pizza for his family last Saturday. Howard had just landed his week’s pay — a $690 check — but somehow lost the entire wad of cash.

“He searched his house, he tried to see if it fell out of his pocket, he went back to the pizza store to check,” Weaver said. “He lost all the money.”

Not one to leave his friend hanging, Weaver has started up a collection in hopes of gaining enough donations to get Howard’s money back.

Weaver set up two change buckets at Elyria Hardware on Middle Avenue. The goal: $690.

And maybe enough left over for a pizza.

— Shawn Foucher

Working in her sleep

Some people take work home. Bay Village Mayor Debbie Sutherland apparently takes hers to bed.

Sutherland said she’s been working so hard on trying to reach a deal on the new Interstate 90 interchange in Avon, approved Friday by the Northeastern Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, that she’s been dreaming about it.

Lorain County Commissioner Betty Blair said the feud between officials in Cuyahoga and Lorain counties over the interchange was more of a nightmare, but Sutherland is just glad the arguing is over.